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Patricia Barber and Stereophile

Has anyone listen to PB's new CD? I just purchased it, upon rave reviews. I have not owned any of her other cd's, but soon will. The recording sounds great in regards to timbre and detail. It really captures the late night club sound. And, the bass is deep!!!!! Oh, of course the music is wonderful. Although, this is not the reason for my post. My concern is that the mix is really problematic. The drum kit is at least 10 to 12 feet wide and the bass player at times sounds like he is sitting on the drummers lap. The perspective is equal to standing 3 feet in front of a drummer. At times I feel that I am on stage. In reading the review in "Stereophile" there was no mention of this strange mix. This is not the first time I have encountered obvious "objective" problems with their music review. One of their recent reviews of a new funk band, I forget their name but it is the one with the cover including a dollar bill theme, gave it 5 stars in sound. Well, a friend of mine brought it over and I listened to it. IMO the low end was as muddy as the Colorodo River in the spring. As well as the over all sound was somewhat fuzzy. Now, I don't listen to all of their reviews and honestly I only catch the few that I like, however, their credibility has been compromised. Again, I'm not talking about the subjective matters of liking the music. I talking about the overall sound quality of the recordings. Has anybody listen to these cd's, what is you perspective and how well do you feel "Stereophile" does with their music reviews? Again, overall I love the new PB cd, it just the unnaturual soundstage I am talking about.
ramstl
avnut
153 posts
 
i love patricia's music. her voice is incredible. i am very disappointed with the muddiness of the bass. in the first track, something seems amiss between the piano and the bass. i dont get it. maybe my system is missing the resolution needed to hear the opening clearly. i love the cd anyway. modern cool was/is the best overall recording i've heard on my system. later fellers!
jadem6's avatar
jadem6
1,071 posts
 
Avnut, are you refering to "Blackbird" on Nightclub? I have a very solid, deep round note untill about 25 seconds into the track at wich point it drops lower. The first pluck is not as solid as the next few but is still completely defined and remains round. My system looses nothing with the Sereophile test disk to 30Hz, losses maybe 7-10 db at 25Hz and is not really not audible at 20Hz under normal listening levels, but you can still feel it. It may well be my ears or something but the base I reproduce is extremely solid to 30Hz. You might try playing with your speakers or room some and see if you can focus the base better. How far into your room are your speakers?
jadem6's avatar
jadem6
1,071 posts
 
And one more thought. The base note is located just left of the piano note on my system. The two are almost in the same space, imposed over eachother, but not quite. Are you resolving this or are they one location? This may be the murkieness.
ramstl OP
342 posts
 
I didn't have any issues with the bass on the PB disc. What I was referring to was another example in which Stereophile rated a disc 5 stars and it clearly was inaccurate in the bass. Again, I would have to look up the back issue for the name of the band, but refer to my first post for my reference to it. I don't have a problem with the bass in the PB disc. I would agree with the post regarding the spread sounding like 2 people drumming. However, it doesn't sould like two kits, it sounds like someone playing the high hat far right and removed from the rest of the kit. Also, on the first track the piano wanders from left to right in corelation with upper and lower keys. Again, this is clearly not a recording made to sound like real players in real space. IMO, this recording sounds like it is close mic'ed and then pasted to right, left or both channels without any regard to natural placement of instruments. With respects to Jim Anderson, the sound engineer, at least on this disk, he has a great ability to excite you with sound but lose you with sonic accuracy.
ramstl OP
342 posts
 
jademo' I have the same problem with this recording. There is a lot of overlap with instrument placement. This, IMO, is an artifact of the multi mic'd cut and paste mixing that was done by the engineer and not brought out by the Stereophile reviewer.
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